The Renaissance as seen through Art,
Artists, Architecture and Literature
(1400-1600CE)
A return to the lost stylization of
the classical world
The Intellectual Renaissance
• The wealthy who lived in Italy between
1350 – 1600 believed they were living in a
unique period, witnessing a rebirth of
classical antiquity –the world of the
Greeks and Romans.
• To them, this marked a new age, which
historians later called the Renaissance
(French for “rebirth”).
• This movement started in Italy and
eventually spread to the rest of Europe.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• A new view of humans emerged as those
affected by the Italian Renaissance began
to emphasize individual ability.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• This high regard for
human potential gave
rise to a new social ideal
– that of a well rounded
(or “universal”) person
that was capable of
achievements in many
fields (often known as a
“Renaissance Man” or
“Woman”).
The Intellectual Renaissance
• The most important intellectual movement
associated with the Renaissance was
humanism.
• Humanism was based on the study of the
classics, the literary works of Greece and
Rome, to lead a moral and effective life.
• Humanists studied the liberal arts – history,
grammar, rhetoric, poetry, politics, and
philosophy (ethics). Today we call these
the Humanities.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• During the Renaissance, to become
wealthy and stay wealthy required a high
standard of education…one could not be
successful in commerce or industry
without knowing how to read and write
and being skillful with numbers.
• Increased business meant more
partnership agreements, complicated wills,
etc…i.e. more law.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• Legal studies became the biggest draw at
European universities and professors of
law were paid the highest academic
salaries.
• As city-states grew and governments
became more complicated, there was a
greater demand for a well-educated
secretariat at home and for diplomats who
spoke with eloquence abroad.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• The influence of the past was strengthened
by the fact that the Renaissance had no
conception of progress…until the
Renaissance men did not believe that society
could steadily improve itself by inventing
new ways to exploit resources and organize
economies and governments.
• It seemed to Renaissance thinkers that the
ancients had done nearly everything about
as well as it could be done.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• Early humanists (like Petrarch) believed that
the intellectual life should be one of solitude
and study.
• Later humanists, especially in Florence,
believed that it was the duty of an
intellectual to live an active life for one’s
community and country.
• They also believed that their study of the
humanities should be put to the service of
their community or country.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• Petrarch (1304-1374) is often referred to
as the “father of Renaissance humanism”
because he sought to find forgotten Latin
manuscripts and emphasized the use of
classical Latin.
The Intellectual Renaissance
• Writers addressed more
secular subjects like love
and lust, valor,
individualism, and pride in
human achievement.
• Humanist writers (like
Dante) often criticized the
Church (usually by
satirizing it) and began
writing in Italian.
The Artistic Renaissance
• Renaissance artists tried to imitate nature
and persuade onlookers of the reality of the
object or event they were portraying.
• Artistic standards also reflected a new
attitude…that humans became the focus of
attention, “the center and measure of all
things.” “God is supreme but life is human.”
The Artistic Renaissance
• This focus was on more worldly subjects
or Greek/Roman classics—including
mythology, not just religion (which
reflected humanism).
• Painting style became three dimensional
(unlike earlier styles that were flat/two
dimensional).
The Artistic Renaissance
• Artists wanted credit for their works and
wanted to be known (they sought prestige a new sign of individualism).
• During the Middle Ages to praise man was to
praise God (for man was a creation of
God)…but Renaissance artists praised man
himself as a creator.
The Artistic Renaissance
• Each generation of artists was praised for
being “more modern” than the last…but
“more modern” during the Renaissance really
meant closer to the precepts laid down by
Classical Rome.
Medieval Art (typically two dimensional)
Medieval Art
Renaissance vs. Medieval
• The major difference between Medieval
and the Renaissance style of painting was
the use of linear perspective and light and
shadow.
• These elements gave the figures in
Renaissance art form and volume (three
dimensional qualities).
Renaissance vs. Medieval
• Many art historians credit the works of
Giotto (1266-1337) as being the first to
lead art back to what was the “classical
style.”
Masaccio
• The Tribute Money (Florence c. 1427)
• This is considered by some art historians as
the first major work of the Renaissance.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Self Portraits
Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa (La Giaconda c.1503-05)
Leonardo da Vinci
Portrait of a Young Woman
(Ginevra DeBenci c. 1474-78)
Leonardo da Vinci
La belle Ferroniere (1490)
Leonardo da Vinci
Lady with an Ermine
(Cecilia Gallerani 1483-90)
Leonardo da Vinci
The Last Supper (1498)
Leonardo da Vinci
Madonna and Child with a Pomegranate
(1475)
Leonardo da Vinci
The Annunciation (1472-75)
Leonardo da Vinci
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne (1510)
Leonardo da Vinci
St. John the Baptist (1509-12)
Leonardo da Vinci
Canon of Proportions
(commonly called Vetruvian Man c. 1485-90)
Leonardo da Vinci
Mechanics (Machine gun and Tank)
Leonardo da Vinci
Military Mechanics
Leonardo da Vinci
Flying Machines
Leonardo da Vinci
• An example of Leonardo’s “mirror writing”:
Leonardo da Vinci
• People who were contemporaries of
Leonardo left records that they saw him
write and paint left handed. He also made
sketches showing his own left hand at
work.
• Because people were superstitious (it was
considered a sign of the Devil), children
who naturally started using their left hands
to write or draw were forced to use their
right hands.
Leonardo da Vinci
Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Michelanglo
The Creation of Man (Sistine Chapel)
Michelangelo
Sistine Chapel (1508-12)
Michelangelo
Vault of the Sistine Chapel (Vatican)
Michelangelo
• Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel
has been recognized as a masterpiece since
its completion and is a defining moment in
artistic history.
• He was just 33 years old when he signed a
contract with the pope to paint the Sistine
Chapel for about $500,000. But he wasn’t
happy about the commission, declaring
himself a sculptor rather than a painter and
preferring to work on an existing commission
for the pope’s tomb.
Michelangelo
• Michelangelo’s plan was to depict the
salvation of the human race by God as told
through the allegory of the Old Testament.
• For Renaissance Christians, every element
and story in the Old Testament had both a
literal and a mystical meaning.
• The Old Testament had been retained by
the Christian Church because it proclaimed
the coming of Jesus in the events of the
history of Israel.
Michelangelo
• The central themes on the great ceiling are
from the Old Testament : the creation of the
world, the creation of mankind, and the
salvation of mankind that came when Noah
was rescued from the flood.
• The ceiling has nine paintings, which
Michelangelo painted in reverse chronological
order.
Michelangelo
• In the three paintings depicting the creation,
we see God’s hand moving across the
waters, separating the darkness from the
light, and creating the sun and the moon.
• The only picture of Christ on the ceiling is
the image of a baby poking out from the
cloak of God, assuring Christians of the
existence of Christ and the Trinity from the
beginning.
Michelangelo
• God Moving Across the Waters.
Michelangelo
• God Creating the Sun and Moon.
Michelangelo
• The second set of three paintings depicts
man. Here, we see the creation of Adam,
the creation of Eve, and the fall of
mankind.
• The most famous painting, God reaching
out to touch the finger of Adam is meant
to convey not just the giving of life but the
giving of a divine spark—the essence of
what it is to be human.
Michelangelo
• The Creation of Man (Adam).
Michelangelo
• The Creation of Woman (Eve).
Michelangelo
• The Fall of Man
Michelangelo
• The third set of paintings shows the story of Noah,
the one man who touched God’s heart with his
righteousness and was saved from the flood.
• The central scene depicts the terror of the coming
flood.
• In the other two scenes, first we see Noah offering
a sacrifice to God, foreshadowing God’s own
sacrifice of his son.
• Then we see Noah lying in the nude, having drunk
the fruit of his vineyards. The covering up of Noah
by his sons was symbolic to Michelangelo that
Christ himself would be humiliated.
Michelangelo
• The Deluge (great flood).
Michelangelo
• The Drunkenness of Noah.
Michelangelo
Isaiah (Sistine Chapel)
Michelangelo
The Sibyl of Delphi (Sistine Chapel)
Michelangelo
The Cumaean Sibyl (Sistine Chapel)
Michelangelo
The Last Judgment (Sistine Chapel 1535)
• This was the largest
painting created
during the
Renaissance.
• Michelangelo
painted his own
flayed skin to
represent St.
Bartholomew.
Michelangelo
The Last Judgment (Sistine Chapel 1535)
Michelangelo
• In the years after his completion of the
Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo became ever
more famous and filled commissions for
later popes.
• His work in the Sistine Chapel, together
with his painting of the Last Judgment and
the dome of St. Peter’s, stand as
exemplars of perfection in art down to our
own day.
Michelangelo
David (in Florence 1501-04)
Michelangelo’s The Pieta [Pity]
(at the Vatican c. 1500)
Michelangelo
Moses (c. 1515)
Michelangelo
• The dome of St. Peter’s Basilica:
Botticelli (1444-1510)
Botticelli
• At the height of his fame, the Florentine
painter Sandro Botticelli was one of the
most esteemed artists in Italy.
• Such was his reputation that, in 1481, he
was summoned by the Pope to Rome to
help decorate the walls of the recently
completed Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
This was the only time he spent time away
from Florence.
Botticelli
The Birth of Venus (1486)
Botticelli
Primavera (Spring) 1482
Botticelli
The Three Graces
(close-up)
The Three Graces were
the daughters of Zeus.
Left is the goddess of
splendor.
Middle is the goddess of
festivity.
Right is the goddess of
rejoicing.
Botticelli
Venus and Mars (1483)
Botticelli
The Adoration of the Magi (1475-76)
Raphael
(1483-1520) Self Portrait
Raphael
• For centuries, Raphael was recognized as one
of the most versatile and prolific painters of
what became known as the “High
Renaissance.”
• Artist and architect, he held commissions from
popes (Julius II) and wealthy patrons alike.
• Though he died at 37, Raphael's example as a
paragon of classicism dominated the academic
tradition of European painting until the mid-19th
century.
Raphael
Sistine Madonna (1513-14)
Raphael
Cherubini (Tiny Cherubs)
Raphael
St. George and the Dragon (1505-06)
Raphael
St. Michael (1504-05)
Raphael
The Entombment (1507)
Raphael
Woman with a Unicorn (1506?)
Raphael
St. Catherine of Alexandria (1507)
Raphael
Madonna and Child (1504 & 1505)
Raphael
The Three Graces (1501-05)
Raphael
The School of Athens (1508)
Raphael
School of Athens (da Vinci as Plato)
Raphael
Young Man with an Apple
(Francesco Maria della Rovere 1505)
Raphael
Baldassare Castligione (1514)
Titian
• Titian was the greatest painter of 16thcentury Venice, and the first painter to have
a mainly international clientele.
• During his long career, he experimented
with many different styles of painting which
embody the development of art during his
epoch.
• He became the court painter for Charles V
of Spain and his son Philip II.
Titian
Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-23)
Titian
Sacred and Profane Love (1515-16)
Titian
Flora (1515)
Titian
Venus with a mirror (1555)
Titian
Venus and Adonis (1554)
Titian
Diana and Actaeon (1559)
Titian
Charles V (of Spain) 1548
Titian
Clarissa Strozzi (1542)
Titian
Adam and Eve (c. 1550)
Titian
Penitent Mary Magdalen (c. 1560s)
Titian (1485-1576)
Mino da Fiesole
• da Fiesole’s bust of Piero de’ Medici (1453)
was the first portrait bust made since the
fall of Rome.
Donatello (Sculptor)
David (in Bronze) c. 1430 This was the
first major work of Renaissance sculpture
and the first free-standing nude created
since ancient Rome.
Donatello
St George (c.1417)
Donatello
Mary Magdalen
Donatello
St. John
St. Mark
Donatello
Equestrian monument of Commander
Gattamelata (Padua 1453)
Donatello (1386-1466)
Jan van Eyck
• Van Eyck was the most famous Flemish
painter of the 15th century.
• For many years Jan van Eyck was wrongly
credited with the ``discovery of painting in oil,'‘
but he did create a stable varnish that dried at
a consistent rate.
• His oil/resin mixture (instead of egg tempura)
created brilliant, translucent, and intense
colors which had never been seen before on
canvas.
Jan van Eyck (Flemish)
• The Virgin and Chancellor Rolin (1435)
Jan van Eyck
The Arnolfini Marriage (1434)
Jan van Eyck
St. Jerome in his Study (1441)
Jan van Eyck
Singing Angels (1427-29)
Jan van Eyck (1395-1441)
• Man in a Red Turban (thought to be a selfportrait 1433)
Pieter Bruegel
• Pieter Bruegel is generally considered the
greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century.
• His paintings, including his landscapes and
scenes of peasant life, stress the absurd
and vulgar, yet are full of zest and fine
detail. They also expose human
weaknesses and follies.
• He was sometimes called the "peasant
Bruegel" from such works as the Peasant
Wedding Feast (1568).
Pieter Bruegel (Flemish)
The Tower of Babel (1563)
Pieter Bruegel
Proverbs (1559)
Pieter Bruegel
The Peasant Wedding Feast (1568)
Pieter Bruegel
The Wedding Dance (1568)
Pieter Bruegel
Winter Landscape with Skaters (1565)
Pieter Bruegel
(1525-1569)
Albrecht Durer (German)
• Durer was known as
the “Leonardo of the
North.”
• Durer was the leading
German artist of the
Renaissance.
• Adoration of the
Trinity (1511)
Albrecht Durer
• Adoration of the Magi (1504)
Albrecht Durer
• Rabbit in Winter (1502)
Albrecht Durer
• This engraving is
called Melancholia
(1514).
Albrecht Durer
The Four Riders of the Apocalypse
(1498)
Albrecht Durer
The Knight, Death, and the Devil (1513)
Albrecht Durer
(1471- 1528)
• Self portrait at age 26.
An Architectural Renaissance
• Renaissance rulers used art and
architecture to enhance the pomp and
ceremonial display of their courts as
symbols of their power.
• Kings, nobles, and the wealthy
commissioned portraits of themselves
(or of their families) as expressions of
their stature and wealth.
An Architectural Renaissance
• Before the dawn of
the Renaissance (i.e
Late Medieval period
12th-14th centuries),
Europe was
dominated by
asymmetrical and
ornate Gothic
architecture.
Gothic Architecture
Gothic Architecture
• Cathedral at Reims (France) and Duomo
(Milan).
Gothic Architecture
• Cathedral de Notre Dame (Paris):
Renaissance Architecture
• In the early 1400’s, architects reverted
back to the older styles of Romanesque
and Greek.
• The architects of the Renaissance period
refined Greek and Roman architecture and
used new materials not usually associated
with Greece, like brick.
• Arab influences are also evident (like the
curved arches).
Renaissance Architecture
• Architectural features included:
• Symmetrical arrangement of windows and
doors;
• Extensive use of classical columns and
pilasters;
• Triangular pediments;
• Square lintels;
• Arches and domes;
• Niches with sculptures.
Renaissance Architecture
• Cities were designed and planned with
order and harmony in mind. (Not the
haphazard Medieval way)
• Plazas (open squares), market squares,
parks, play areas, and grounds for military
exercises were incorporated.
• Arches and porticos (covered walkways)
became popular.
Renaissance Architecture
• The first major
example of
Renaissance
architecture was
the Church of San
Lorenzo
(Florence),
created by Filippo
Brunelleschi
(1377-1446).
Renaissance Architecture
• Among the first to
break from the
Medieval Gothic style,
Brunelleschi (and his
close friend Donatello)
were inspired by
classical Roman
models and ruins and
created a more linear,
humanistic style.
Renaissance Architecture
• The classical columns, rounded arches,
and coffered ceiling created a feeling that
didn’t overwhelm worshippers (like Gothic
cathedrals).
• The space was created to fit human
proportions, not divine ones. Renaissance
architects sought to reflect the humancentered world.
Renaissance Architecture
• Brunelleschi’s most famous work is the
cathedral of Florence Santa Maria del Fiore
(started 1296, completed in 1436)
Renaissance Architecture
• Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
Renaissance Architecture
• Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore by
Brunelleschi (1420-36). Over 4,000,000
bricks were used and a special hoisting
machine was made to create the largest
dome since antiquity.
Renaissance Architecture
• The Ducal Palace at Urbino (completed 1604)
Renaissance Architecture
• The Ducal Palace’s courtyard and portico:
Renaissance Architecture
The Temple of St. Peter (marks where he was
put to death by the Romans)
Renaissance Architecture
• The Sistine Chapel (Cappella Sistina) is part
of the Pope’s official residence at the
Vatican.
• It was designed to look like Solomon’s
Temple.
Renaissance Architecture
• The Vatican (Rome)
Renaissance Architecture
The Vatican (St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome
started in 1506, completed in 1626)
The Vatican
• The Swiss guard uniform was designed by
Michelangelo.
Look Familiar?
Guess where?
Guess where?
Renaissance Architecture
The “leaning” Tower of Pisa (started 1173—
completed 1372)
Renaissance Architecture
• The Cathedral of Pisa.
Renaissance Architecture
Santa Maria Novella
(Florence started 1246, completed in 1470)
Renaissance Architecture
Santa Maria della Grazie (Milan 1469-1490)
This is the church that houses da Vinci’s Last Supper
Renaissance Architecture
The Czech city of Telc
Renaissance Architecture
• Antwerp City Hall (1561, completed in
1565)
Renaissance Architecture
Renaissance Music
• Renaissance rulers spent as much as 6%
of their annual revenue to support
musicians and composers.
• Music added glamour and glory to the
courts and reputations of patrons.
• Music was appreciated for its ability to
express the innermost feelings of the
individual.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=739R
9G0qDH8
Renaissance Music
• As a major sponsor of
music, the church needed
choirs of singers, and many
composers got their start as
choir boys.
• The Great Schism
encouraged more musical
production as rival popes
sought to outdo each other.
The Renaissance: an Overview
• First, Renaissance Italy was largely
an urban society made up of powerful
city-states. These city-states became
centers of Italian political, economic,
and social life.
The Renaissance: an Overview
• Second, the Renaissance signaled an
age of recovery from the disasters at
the end of the Post-classical period,
namely the social destruction caused
by the Black Plague, the political
disorder that was caused by it, and
the economic collapse of the first
world system.
The Renaissance: an Overview
• Third, the leaders of the Renaissance
began to look at humans in a new way.
• For the first time in over 1000 years, an
emphasis was placed on individual
ability.
• Individuals tried to achieve a new social
ideal: the well-rounded personality or
universal person who was capable of
achievements in many areas of life.